Personalization in Marketing or Know Your Customer

 Personalization in Marketing or Know Your Customer

Do you know your customers, so that you can make relevant and personalized recommendations?

Today marketing is all about what Google had defined - ZMOT = Zero Moment of Truth. It is that magic moment when the customer makes that crucial decision - To buy or not To buy YOUR product! ZMOT is basically being at the right time and place so that the customer ends up buying your product vs your competitors. 

Most of us today are struggling with getting the personalization right i.e making relevant recommendations, cross-sell or upsell. 

Relevance and accuracy of the personalization depend largely on the quality of your DATA along with the accessibility of your DATA. As always data comes in a variety - structured or unstructured. However, for personalization, for Marketers, what we need to really look at, without getting too technical is to identify the data from the customer perspective and touchpoints in the journey. For example:

1. Browsing behavior data - When a customer visits your websites and browses a specific category, for example: Saute Pan in Kitchen/Cookware/Pans/Saute Pan. Gather data at the most granular level i.e product display page (PDP). 

[brand_name: Array  "Farberware" 

category_name: "Kitchen"

customer_city: "LOSANGELES"

product_name: Array [ "Farberware® Nonstick 6 qt. Aluminum Covered Jumbo Cooker with Helper Handle" ]

2. Transactional data - When a customer makes a purchase. It is important to capture transactional data as it can help you cross-sell many products based on recent purchase history and recent purchase history is always considered valuable.

3. In-store engagement data - Redemption of the coupon is the best example of instore engagement, followed by creating a registry or exchange or return of a product. As well as, attending an event or simply buying a product in-store are some of the examples. In-store data can include Transactional, demographic, and cancel or return data but not Browsing behavior data. 

4. Demographic data - Personal attributes such as age, gender, geographic location, income level, and other distinguishing characteristics of a customer are recorded and maintained within Customer Data Platforms (CDPs). This enables businesses to develop comprehensive customer profiles by integrating this information with additional data sources, including purchase history and website interactions, facilitating targeted marketing efforts and analytical insights.

5. Cancel/Return Data - The term "cancel or return data" pertaining to a product encompasses the information gathered when a customer opts to cancel an order prior to shipment or when they return a product that has already been delivered. This data includes various details such as the rationale for the cancellation or return, the date of the action, specifics about the product, and the customer's personal information. This information generally encompasses the product specifications (SKU, description), the order identification number, the rationale for cancellation or return, the customer's details, and the date on which the action occurred.

Touchpoints - Customers have the flexibility to engage with various touchpoints at their convenience, utilizing any available channel in any sequence.

These interactions may include:  

1. Clicking on an online advertisement  
2. Reviewing a targeted email communication  
3. Making a purchase through the company’s website  
4. Returning a product at a physical store  
5. Contacting a service representative  
6. Downloading a whitepaper  
7. Redeeming a coupon for a product or service offered by the company  

It is important to note that each customer's journey is unique.

Reference: Salesforce